


The only gift I could ever want

by madlysanecatlady



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fluff, Gladnis, Happy Birthday Gladio, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-18 02:12:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14202813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madlysanecatlady/pseuds/madlysanecatlady
Summary: Ignis plans the perfect birthday party for Gladio, but never foresaw the gift he truly wanted.





	The only gift I could ever want

Icing cakes was something of a soothing exercise for Ignis. He could simply block out the rest of the world for a few minutes as he smoothed out the soft, thick buttercream over the quadruple tiered chocolate cake, Gladio’s absolute favourite dessert. He smoothed it down, striving for nothing less than absolute perfection. When he was finally satisfied with the coating, he turned his attention to his piping bag and the buttercream he had set aside to colour.

‘Smells super good,’ Iris came into the kitchen and grinned. ‘Are you going to share or what, Ignis?’

‘I made you some cupcakes,’ Ignis nodded towards the six cupcakes he had made and iced with the leftover batter. ‘I had a feeling you might be coming in here to try and steal your brother’s birthday cake.’

‘Gods, did you use a ruler or a level or something to ice this thing?’ Iris was inspecting the cake closely. ‘I haven’t even seen a cake this nice in a _bakery_. What the hell?’

‘I merely took the time to chill the cake first to ensure the smoothest job possible,’ Ignis shrugged, separating out a small amount of the buttercream and adding a drop each of red and blue colouring, mixing out a lovely lavender colour. He separated out another amount and mixed it into a vibrant green. He scooped the green into his piping bag and started piping out long stems and leaves for the gladiolus flowers he had planned for the top of the cake.

‘You’re putting in a lot of effort for this,’ Iris commented, looking over the selection of cupcakes to choose one she liked the look of. ‘I mean, what’s the point? It’s just gonna get eaten.’

‘Of course there’s a point, presentation is half of the baking process,’ Ignis smiled, putting the final touches on the leaves before abandoning the piping bag in favour of picking up another with a starred tip and scooping in the lavender.

‘Wow that’s pretty,’ Iris smiled around a bite of her cupcake. ‘Oh gods and these are delicious. You’re a cooking genius, Ignis.’ She smiled. ‘Gladdy’s going to love it.’

Ignis smiled softly, piping out precise florets for the gladiolus flowers he had placed on both sides of the cake, framing the area he would be writing the birthday greeting on. ‘I hope he does.’

‘Course he will,’ Iris smiled, watching Ignis concentrate on ensuring the flowers’ petals were perfect for each individual bloom. ‘One, it’s completely perfect look at it, and two, he loves everything you do. Probably because you always put in the extra effort for him. You care about him a lot.’

Ignis felt his cheeks go slightly pink and hoped Iris wouldn’t notice, even though she was really quite astute for a twelve-year-old. If she did notice, she didn’t say anything, for which Ignis was exceedingly grateful. He didn’t think he had the mental or emotional capacity to have any sort of discussion about his feelings for Gladio with his baby sister at the moment, given he could barely have the discussion with himself.

Ignis finished up the flowers and frowned at the cake. It was lovely, yes, but he felt it was missing a bit of colour and pizazz. He took the remaining buttercream and separated it into two, colouring one half a lovely periwinkle blue and the other the same lavender as the gladiolus flowers. He selected a new pair of piping tips, elongated ones for ribboning and proceeded to wrap the sides of the cake in alternating ruffled ribbons of lavender and blue. When he was finished he stepped back to admire it, spinning the cake on its stand to ensure everything was even.

‘I keep saying it, that’s actual perfection, Ignis,’ Iris looked the cake over as well. ‘Gladdy’s gonna be so happy!’

‘I hope so,’ Ignis nodded, cleaning out the piping bags in the sink. ‘I’ll have to thank your father again for the use of your kitchen. I never could have done this in my tiny little oven.’

‘That _is_ a buttload of cake,’ Iris nodded. ‘Can’t wait till Gladdy sees it! He’s gonna love it! It’s gonna be his favourite gift of everything today. You wanna know why?’

‘Because he has a ridiculous sweet tooth and loves chocolate cake?’ Ignis smirked, setting the piping bags out to dry. He turned to fill the final piping bag with the chocolate ganache he had made in order to write the birthday message for Gladio on the top of the cake.

‘Well, yeah, but other than that,’ Iris rolled her eyes. ‘It’s because _you_ made it.’

‘Ah yes, handmade items are typically from the heart and appreciated as such,’ Ignis smiled, piping out his best cursive onto the centre of the cake.

‘No, Ignis! Gods, sometimes you’re really dumb for such a smart guy,’ Iris huffed. ‘He likes _you_.’

‘Well, we are friends,’ Ignis turned to face her, his confusion very much visible in his furrowed brow. ‘It stands that we would indeed like each other.’

‘ _No,_ not like _that_ ,’ Iris rolled her eyes. ‘He _likes_ you. Like, _like_ likes you.’

Ignis frowned. Was she teasing him? Playing with his emotions? He mentally shook himself. Iris was a young teen capable of a great deal of teasing for certain, but he knew she was never malicious. Clearly, she was simply mistaken, reading into a close friendship more than she should.

‘Don’t make that face, you like him back! Why else would you put so much effort into planning Gladdy’s birthday? And not even you would put this much effort into a cake for him if you didn’t like him.’

Ignis had nothing to say to that, at least nothing that wouldn’t damn him to admitting his feelings to Iris. Instead, he silently moved back to the sink to clean out the few specs of remaining ganache from the piping bag and set it aside to dry. He moved to put the glass dome cover over the cake but Iris intercepted him, standing in his path with her hands on her hips.

‘What, you’ve got no answer for that?’

‘I really don’t know what to say, Iris,’ Ignis sighed. ‘I believe you might be seeing things that simply aren’t there. Gladio and I are close, yes, we’ve been friends for so many years, but there’s nothing romantic there.’

‘Obviously not, since you two are so _stubborn,_ ’ Iris clicked her tongue in annoyance. ‘Gladdy said the exact same thing when I talked to him! You guys need to just suck it up and say what you feel already.’ Grabbing another cupcake, she left the kitchen in a huff, leaving Ignis to stare blankly after her. He swallowed. This had the potential to be dangerous; Iris wasn’t exactly known for holding her tongue. He hoped she would press the issue to the point where Gladio might realise she was right about Ignis’ feelings. He didn’t want to risk their friendship because he couldn’t seem to help himself in completely falling for his best friend.

He sighed. That was a problem for later. Right now, Ignis had a lot to do in making sure Gladio’s birthday was perfect for him. Anything less was unacceptable. Iris was right, to a point. He didn’t simply _like_ Gladio, he loved him. And nothing less than perfection would do for the man he loved.

-

The party was perfect so far, if Ignis were afforded enough objectivity to say so. Gladio had been completely surprised to find everyone waiting for him to wish him a happy birthday. All of the food Ignis had prepared with Jared’s help (all Gladio’s favourites, of course, save for those blasted cup noodles) had been well-received, as had the cake. Gladio had taken several photos of it before allowing a knife anywhere near it, telling Ignis that his decorating skills were indeed up to par. Ignis felt a strong warmth radiating from his chest seeing Gladio smile at his cake. It did his heart good knowing he had succeeded in making Gladio’s birthday special for him.

‘Hey,’ Gladio came to where Ignis stood, leaning against the wall and away from most of the festivities and leaned next to him. ‘Jared tells me all of this was your doing.’

‘Jared helped with all the food,’ Ignis flushed. ‘I certainly couldn’t have done it all on my own.’

‘No, because apparently you spent so long on that cake, holy shit Ignis, that cake,’ Gladio was grinning. ‘You’re an actual magician, you know that?’

Ignis felt his flush deepen. ‘I’m pleased you liked it. I know chocolate is your favourite.’

‘You made sure I had all my favourites, didn’t you?’ Gladio’s voice was soft, and there was an expression on his face Ignis had never seen before. It was soft and open and… well, Ignis wasn’t sure what it was, but he decided quite quickly that he liked it. ‘But it wasn’t just that it was delicious, cos it was, but holy shit was it ever _gorgeous_. I can’t believe you made that with just icing. Iris said it was fun to watch; I’ll have to watch you decorating a cake sometime. Maybe for my next birthday gift? Because this one was bitchin’.’

Ignis smiled. ‘Well, that wasn’t your real present; this is,’ Ignis held out the long, thin box he had impeccably wrapped in periwinkle paper for Gladio to take. ‘Iris and I did some crafts for you and we thought you might like this. It suits your sense of personal style.’

‘Like you haven’t already given me enough for like nine birthdays,’ Gladio accepted it and tore off the paper, pulling off the lid to reveal a long beaded necklace ending in a simple X pendant. He looked up, surprised. ‘You and Iris _made_ this?’

Ignis nodded, watching him carefully to see if he liked it. Seeing Gladio slip it over his head and around his neck told him it was likely well-received. He smiled. ‘It does suit you.’

‘You’re amazing,’ Gladio turned to hug him. ‘ _Thank you_.’

Ignis returned the hug, drinking in the warmth and scent of Gladio before he inevitably pulled away, after rather longer than Ignis expected, not that he would ever complain. He smiled. ‘So, would you rate this birthday a success? Has everything been like you hoped it would?’

‘Pretty much better than I could’ve imagined in my wildest dreams, Iggy,’ Gladio laughed. He looked at Ignis for a moment, looking thoughtful before that expression Ignis didn’t recognise returned. ‘But you know, there was one gift I was hoping to get today…’

‘Oh?’ Ignis frowned. Had he missed something? Had Gladio mentioned something off-hand that he had failed to take into account in his planning? ‘What was it?’

‘Well, Iris and I were talking the other day, and she kind of got me to realise that I’m really fucking stupid sometimes,’ Gladio shrugged. ‘Or at least, I’m pretty blind to what’s in front of me.’

Ignis tilted his head, confused. ‘What do you mean?’

Gladio said nothing, instead simply leaning in and pressing his lips to Ignis’ gently. Ignis felt like his brain was short-circuiting. Sparks were spreading out across his body from where their lips connected, spreading the absolute bliss all the way to the tips of his toes. He gaped for a moment when Gladio pulled away with a shy smile, before finding the use of his limbs again and reaching up to tug Gladio back into a second kiss, eliciting a surprised grunt from Gladio before strong arms came up around him to pull him closer.

A whistle from across the room broke them apart, and they both turned to see Noctis grinning at them. He shot Gladio a thumbs up. ‘About damn time, guys!’

‘Now _that’s_ a birthday gift!’ Drautus laughed, clapping Clarus on the shoulder. ‘Looks like your son got his birthday wish, huh?’

Clarus’ eyes twinkled as he smiled at his son and Ignis. ‘Certainly does, yes.’

Gladio grinned at his guests before turning back to Ignis, reaching out to touch a flaming red cheek. ‘Don’t be embarrassed, you really did just give me the perfect birthday gift.’

Ignis smiled wryly. ‘Well, had I know you were this easy to please, I probably could have saved myself quite a deal of trouble. Of course, I probably couldn’t have helped myself. I adore you too much to not spoil you. But I _am_ pleased I could give you your ideal gift.’

Gladio leaned down to kiss him briefly again before pulling away with that expression, that Ignis could finally recognise as a loving one, back on his face. ‘Ignis, your party planning skills are second to none, but _you_ are the only gift I could ever want.’

**Author's Note:**

> It's a bit late for Gladio's birthday and it ain't great, but this is what I got in me today.


End file.
